Fireworks
by Pirateweasel
Summary: Independence Day on the Grid. Happy 4th of July, Tron! part of the 'Grid Myths and Stories' series


Kevin Flynn had a grin on his face as he headed up the stairs leading up from the arcade's basement, whistling as he half-jogged up the steps.

This was going to be great…

He yanked open the front door and stepped out, almost colliding with the figure standing near the doorway in his haste.

"Tron! Geez, sorry man…you okay?"

"I'm fine, Flynn," the security monitor told him with a small smile. "Are you ever going to look before you decide to do something?"

Flynn sent a boyish grin towards his friend and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Umm, no?" he ventured.

Tron shook his head, trying to hide the small smile on his face as he did so. "It's a good thing that I don't let you run around the Grid alone, then."

Flynn spun around his friend, moving towards the street as he did so.

"Yeah, we need to talk about that later…but first, we need to get to the main plaza. I've got something planned that you're gonna want to have a good view of soon." Flynn grabbed Tron's arm and pulled on the program again. "C'mon, Tron, rezz up your cycle and let's go."

Several nanocycles later, the two were standing in the central plaza in front of the central administration building. Kevin still had the grin on his face, and was whistling a tune over and over, making sounds like small explosions occasionally.

"What exactly is it that I am supposed to be looking at, Flynn?" Tron asked, looking around the mostly empty plaza. A few programs were walking past on their way to other places, but most of the programs who used this area were in the admin building—working.

"Just wait, man," Flynn said, looking up at the sky expectantly. "You'll see soon…"

A few moments later, there was a loud 'BOOM' as several explosions lit up the air above the plaza; bright showers of various colored lights whistling and crackling as they fell to the ground.

Kevin began to laugh, only to have the laugh cut off suddenly as a large body tackled him, bearing him down to the ground.

"What the—" he began.

"Stay down!" A pair of stern blue-gray eyes glared at him, warning him not to argue. "Something's wrong—we've got to get you to the portal before more of the Grid starts to derezz…"

"Derezz— Tron, man…nothing's derezzing…." Kevin said, trying to calm down the security monitor who had literally thrown himself over Kevin to protect him. Holy cow, who knew Tron was this heavy? He didn't _look_ bulky, but the program must be packed solid to weigh this much…

"I saw it, Flynn," Tron insisted. "The sky started to have pieces of it derezz. We have to get you out of the Grid before it becomes any more dangerous." He rose from where he had flung himself over the User, trying to protect his friend from damage, looking around for more threats as he did so.

"Tron…" Kevin said, trying to straighten his clothes as he stood up from where he had landed on the ground. "Those aren't pieces of the sky derezzing. I coded them to do that—the explosions—with the colors and lights and all that…. They're called fireworks. Users have them for some celebrations."

It's just that…we're celebrating a holiday in the real world—the Fourth of July. Independence Day in America; an anniversary of people banding together and declaring themselves to be free…and then fighting to make certain that they remained so." Kevin Flynn looked down and toed the edge of the hex shaped street section as he continued speaking.

I dunno, man…" he said. "I just kinda thought…YOU fought to be free, too. Someone should show you a celebration. But since there are no other programs here that know what you did; I thought I would do something special for you. So, I coded up a fireworks display. It wasn't supposed to cause any alarm."

Tron looked skeptically at the User who stood in front of him, appearing to be mildly distressed. Not by anything that he had done; but by the fact that it had caused Tron to worry.

"You did this?" he asked Flynn.

"Yeah, you know, with the MCP and all…I just wanted to say, Happy Independence Day, Tron." Flynn said, looking like he couldn't decide whether or not to be upset about worrying Tron, or happy and excited because his present had been such a surprise.

Above them, the sky continued to brighten with explosions of light, color, and sound. Tron looked up and watched them for a moment before a smile brightened the face he turned to Kevin.

"Thank you, Flynn," he said. "No one has ever done something like this for me before." Tron looked up at the sky for a moment more, saying, "These—fireworks are very beautiful to see. What did CLU think when you told him about this?"

Next to him, Kevin suddenly had a sheepish look on his face. "I—ah—may not have told him about them," Kevin mumbled. "I didn't think that it would cause any problems when I coded the display…"

"CLU has no idea what is happening?" Tron asked, an eyebrow raised. He began to walk briskly in the direction of the administration center. "Let's go stop your panic before it spreads too far…"

"Yeah…sorry about that, man," the User said, jogging to catch up with the security program. "He's not going to be real happy about this."

"No, he's not," Tron replied. "Flynn…Happy Independence Day, to you as well…"


End file.
